This is the most endearing thing PM Justin Trudeau has done: Calling arriving refugees as 'Canadians'

"This is a wonderful night, where we get to show not just a planeload of new Canadians what Canada is all about, we get to show the world how to open our hearts and welcome in people who are fleeing extraordinarily difficult situations," Trudeau told airport workers and volunteers standing by to meet the refugees.

"Tonight they step off the plane as refugees. But they walk out of this terminal as permanent residents of Canada with social insurance numbers, with health cards and with an opportunity to become full Canadians," Trudeau said.

'Memorable' day

Representational Photo: Getty Images

The government hopes to bring in 10,000 Syrian refugees and another 15,000 by the end of February.

"We will all remember this day," Trudeau said shortly before greeting the refugees, many of them women and children.

Syria's grinding four-year civil war has killed more than 250,000 people and displaced four million others.

The new Liberal government, elected in October, had campaigned on a pledge to resettle 25,000 Syrians this year.

But it backpedaled last month, citing logistical issues and following criticism that Ottawa had been moving too fast despite security concerns heightened by the terror attacks in Paris last month.Broadcaster CBC reported in November that Canada will accept only whole families, lone women or children from Syria, while unaccompanied men -- considered a security risk -- will be turned away.

Since the start of 2014, Canada has welcomed 3,500 Syrian refugees.

Another plane carrying around 160 Syrians is due to arrive in Montreal on Saturday, and the pace of arrivals is scheduled to increase to as many as two planes per day.

The ones who arrived Thursday night were to stay in hotels before joining relatives or Canadian families who have offered to open up their homes to them.

The generosity being shown by Canadians stands in contrast to the colder approach of the United States toward the refugees.President Barack Obama has pledged to take in 10,000 Syrians over the course of the next year, and many American states -- apparently fearing Islamist extremists will be hiding amid the refugee flow -- have said they do not want them.

Canada last year deployed 69 military trainers to northern Iraq to train Kurdish militia, as well as six CF-18 fighter jets to conduct sorties in Iraq and Syria.

AFP via PTI